The Dawghowse is a place inside the head of husband, father and Pastor Darrell Garrett. It's the place where the real me lurks.
Be forewarned: It's probably not what you expect. Sometimes it's a serious place... sometimes it's not. Sometimes my thoughts are deep... and sometimes they are just plain weird.
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14 December, 2013

A Real Eye Opener!

A couple days ago someone sent me a link to this story, and I have had to read it several times through... and I've had a real eye opening moment. This describes the church where I pastor. I'm sitting here realizing that things that I thought were problems are not problems, but are in fact a sign that our church has made a real shift and this is a good thing!

7 Signs Your Church Is
Making Inroads with the Unchurched

By Carey
Nieuwhof • 12/01/2013

Preparing to reach
unchurched people is one thing. But when unchurched people actually start
connecting with your church, things change deeply.

Just
because a church is growing doesn’t mean it’s filling up with unchurched
people.

How
do you know you’re really making inroads with the unchurched?

First,
you can find out whether you are attracting transfer growth or truly unchurched
people.

At Connexus, where I serve, we ask new people to
fill out a card. By that we’ve learned that 60% of our first-time attenders
self-identify as having no church background.

But
you can also tell because of how unchurched people change the dynamic in your
church. Your church will simply not be the same anymore.

Preparing to
reach unchurched people is one thing. But when unchurched people actually
start connecting with your church, things change deeply.

When
you see these 7 signs pop up in your church, you will know that you are really
making inroads with the unchurched:

1. People Aren’t Singing Much During the Service

If
you think about it, this shouldn’t surprise you. Christians are about the only
people left in our culture who sing corporately on a weekly basis. Unchurched
people may like your music, but they won’t necessarily sing it. Be okay with
that. We’ve learned to be. Churched people visit our church all the time and
remark on how few people sing (even though we have an exceptional band). I’ve
just decided I don’t care. The goal is not to get unchurched people to
sing…it’s to lead them into a growing relationship with Jesus. We limit the
music to a few songs. Christians get to sing. Unchurched people appreciate the
band. And people’s lives get changed.

2. Long Time Church People Are Unsettled

Not
all long time church people will be upset, but some will be. They’ll be
concerned that people who don’t look like them, behave like them or share their
moral value system are now sitting beside them on Sundays or in group with them
mid-week. This is a good sign. Some of those churched people will leave, but
you will also have a group that have waited for this day all their lives. They
have unchurched friends who are coming and they’ll be thrilled that the church
is (finally) accomplishing its mission. Run with them.

3. Irregular Attendance is Regular

This
unsettles pastors. Normally, if a church person is away for a month, it’s a
‘sign’ of something. Not with unchurched people. In the same way that if you
don’t make it to the gym in a week you don’t panic, unchurched people will come
when they feel like it. Remember: this is the most they’ve attended church
ever. I wrote this post on how to get irregular attenders to attend more often, but just know this comes with the territory.

4. Your Tidy Categories Are Falling Apart

As
you engage more and more unchurched people, you’ll realize that your neat and
tidy theological and sociological categories for people will erode and collapse
and you realize we’re just actually all people in need of a Saviour. Gays
and lesbians will become people. Rich and poor will become names and faces.
That doesn’t mean your theology changes, but it probably means your compassion
does. And it likely means that your easy answers instead become involved
conversations.

5. You’re Getting Surprisingly Candid Questions

As
you surround yourself with unchurched people, you will see more of the
pain and messiness of life. Long time church people often experience the same
pain and life issues; it’s just unchurched people feel freer to talk about
them. So get ready. Have a list of counselors nearby. And get ready to engage
more real life issues from the platform. When you speak into real life, people
listen.

6. Everyone’s Tolerance For Hypocrisy is
Plummeting

People
with little to no church background hate hypocrisy. And they will call it out.
If you don’t deal with it, they will leave. Churched people have learned to
live with hypocrisy for years. Losing that tolerance is awesome for everyone.
We’re preaching through that issue at Connexus in this series.

7. You See Real Life-Change

This
is the best part, of course. But people are in radically different places than
they were even a year or two ago. Unchurched people have really only one motive
for being at church: they want to investigate Jesus. And when they do, its
changes many—deeply. Sure, not everyone decides to follow Christ. But then
there are many people who have attended church their whole life who have
managed to resist transformation for decades. When it comes to unchurched
people, measure change over several years and you’ll be amazed at the progress.